Where Does the Royal Family Actually Live?

The pair call Highgrove House in Gloucestershire their second home. Prince Charles has owned this house since 1980, and he previously spent weekends there with his first wife, the late Princess Diana, and their children, Princes William and Harry. Today, Charles enjoys tending to the gardens at the home and makes his concern for the environment apparent by using energy-saving lightbulbs and solar lights on the property and instructing the staff to compost kitchen waste. 

Like his mother, Charles enjoys spending his holidays on the Balmoral estate where he stays with Camilla at his private 53,000-acre cottage called Birkhall. Following the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, Charles inherited the property and even spent his honeymoon with Camilla there.

Additionally, Charles owns a country home in Llwynywermod, Wales, which he bought in 2007, and Tamarisk House, which is located in the Isles of Scilly.

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie

The daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson lived together in an apartment at St. James’s Palace in London for 10 years. Because the two are not considered “working royals,” their father paid for the cost of the apartment, which came out to about $26,000 annually, according to Insider. In 2018, Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank, and the couple moved into their first home together, the three-bedroom Ivy Cottage at Kensington Palace. (According to House Beautiful, the residence underwent a $15 million renovation in 2012.) At the end of 2020, while awaiting the birth of their first child, the pair reportedly briefly lived in Harry and Meghan’s U.K. home, Frogmore Cottage. As of January 2021, the new parents were said to be residing at River Lodge in Windsor, which is the official country residence of Eugenie’s parents.

Beatrice, meanwhile, reportedly still lives in St. James with her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, who she married in July 2020.

Princess Anne

In addition to maintaining a London residence at St. James’s Palace, the Princess Royal spends most of her time at Gatcombe Park, the Gloucestershire estate her mother purchased for her in 1976. The grounds are host to the annual Festival of British Eventing, as well as a handful of other smaller equestrian events. Anne’s daughter Zara also maintains a home on the property with her husband, Mike Tindall.

Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex

For more than two decades, Bagshot Park in Surrey has been the primary home of the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Before moving into the house, Edward and the Crown Estate reportedly spent more than $3 million on renovations.